Graduation Goal - Beck Hill

"I'm going to graduate with my class in June," Beck Hill says. That will be quite an accomplishment for the 17-year-old King William High School senior.

After being diagnosed as having leukemia in September 1988, Beck's life took a dramatic turn.

"I went to have some wisdom teeth removed and the bleeding just wouldn't stop. I spent two or three weeks in the hospital and that's when they found out. I've been having treatments ever since."

"I'm in school about one or two weeks a month, in between treatments at the Medical College (of Virginia.)

"I try to keep up. I have a home-bound teacher, Clara Seward, and she helps me a lot. She's fun to be with."

Beck also has a teacher at MCV who works with his teachers to coordinate his studies.

He admits it's hard not to have down times, especially when the treatments make him ill.

"I can't do a lot of the things I used to do but most of the time I try to have a positive outlook.

"I've missed a lot, in school and with my friends. I live in King and Queen and when I'm not in school, I don't see them as much, but they have been very supportive."

Beck's mother, Connie Hill, a former fifth-grade teacher, is a remedial reading consultant at Hamilton-Holmes and Acquinton schools in King William. He travels with her from their home at Mattaponi to school in King William.

He also gets a lot of support from his grandmother, Cornelia Collins, who takes him to the hospital for treatments most of the time.

"There are three of us at the hospital who are getting done with chemotherapy about the same time in November. We're going to celebrate."

His disease has been in remission for some time now and Beck is looking forward to the future.

"I'd like to go into advertising. I like art and drawing. I'm going to try to go to Virginia Commonwealth University."